World of Warcraft devotees are the poster children for the reclusive, socially inept PC gamer, but one QUT researcher has discovered the addictive online game could actually be good for psychological wellbeing.

 

Doctoral candidate and researcher Huon Longman, who is studying the psychological impact of the game on its players, has found relationships formed as members of teams to collect wow gold -  known as guilds in the WoW universe - help players cope better with problems in the real world.buy cheap wow gold

 

"Players often form friendships with each other, and while adventuring together in the world, fighting monsters and collecting wow gold, they often discuss what is going on in their offline lives with these friends," Mr Longman said.

 

"I found the more benefit drew from these online relationships the less they had negative psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression and stress."

 

World of Warcraft evolved out of the mid-1990s real-time strategy game Warcraft and has created its own genre -  massively-multiplayer online role-playing game - with more than 11 million players worldwide  battling across the virtual realm.

 

It enjoys a cult following.

 

Mr Longman conducted his study on the internet with the help of about 200 players from around the world.

 

The average age of his sample was 26, with about 90 per cent of them playing WoW for 20 hours a week to collect wow gold.

 

He found the small minority of gamers who spent considerably more time online didn't experience the benefits of better psychological health.